Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, 2013, 3, 269-274
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jsemat.2013.34036 Published Online October 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jsemat)
Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin on Plant Biomass Charcoal
Hidetaka Noritomi1*, Keito Hishinuma1, Shunichi Kurihara1, Jumpei Nishigami1, Tetsuya Takemoto2,
Nobuyuki Endo3, Satoru Kato1
1Department of Applied Chemistry, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Minami-Ohsawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan; 2Osaka Gas Co.,
Ltd., Konohana-ku, Osaka, Japan; 3EEN Co., Ltd., Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Received June 11th, 2013; revised July 13th, 2013; accepted August 2nd, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Hidetaka Noritomi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Li-
cense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ABSTRACT
The adsorption of α-chymotrypsin onto plant biomass charcoal (PBC), which was prepared from plant biomass wastes
such as bagasse and dumped adzuki beans by pyrolysis, has been examined. The PBC was characterized by SEM, spe-
cific surface area, and pore size distribution. The adsorption isotherms were successfully correlated by the Freundlich
equation. The amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC was dramatically dependent upon the solution pH and tem-
perature. Maximum adsorptions of α-chymotrypsin on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse charcoal were observed at
weak acidic and near neutral pH, respectively. The amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC decreased with an in-
crease in the concentration of salts. Plots of the amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC versus temperature exhib-
ited an optimum temperature.
Keywords: Adsorption; Characterization; Plant Biomass Charcoal; α-Chymotrypsin; Protein
1. Introduction
The use and application of boimass for renewable re-
sources and energies are one of the most important chal-
lenges to establish a recycling society. Recently, much
attention has been given to the charcoal prepared from
plant biomass wastes in order to use soil amendments,
adsorbents, humidity control materials, materials for
wastewater treatment, and catalysts [1-6]. However, plant
biomass wastes have not sufficiently been recycled yet,
compared to other wastes, although an enormous amount
of plant biomass waste has been discharged in the world.
Moreover, the development in the high value-added func-
tion of charcoal derived from plant biomass wastes has
been desired.
The adsorption of proteins onto the surface of solids
has been studied extensively in the biotechnological,
medical, pharmaceutical, and food fields in order to ap-
ply it to the immobilization of biocatalyst in the bioreac-
tor, the separation of proteins, and the removal of protein
contamination from food and medicine [7,8]. In order to
assess the property of plant biomass charcoal (PBC) as a
biomaterial, we have so far investigated the interaction
between a protein and PBC derived from dumped adzuki
beans and so on, when hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL)
was used as a model protein, and have found out that
PBC effectively adsorbs HEWL, and HEWL adsorbed on
PBC exhibits the enhanced storage stability at low tem-
peratures and the excellent thermal stability at high tem-
peratures, compared to those of native HEWL [9-11].
In the present work, to test the generality on the ad-
sorption efficiency of PBC for proteins, we employed
bovine pancreas α-chymotrypsin as a model protein, since
it is well investigated regarding its structure, functions,
and properties [12]. In addition to adzuki bean charcoal
and bamboo charcoal, which were used in our previous
work [9], bagasse charcoal and wood charcoal have new-
ly been used as PBC. Moreover, we investigated structu-
ral characteristics of PBC.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
α-Chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.21.1 from bovine pancreas)
(type II, 52 units/mg solid) was purchased from Sigma-
Aldrich Co. Plant biomass charcoal derived from ba-
gasses was supplied from Osaka Gas Co. Ltd. Plant bio-
mass charcoals derived from adzuki beans, bamboos, and
woods were from EEN Co.Ltd. Medicinal carbon was
*Corresponding author.

Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin on Plant Biomass Charcoal 270
100 nm
B
100 nm
C
A
100 nm
100 nm
E
100 nm
D
Figure 1. SEM images of (A) bagasse charcoal, (B) adzuki bean charcoal, (C) bamboo charcoal, (D) wood charcoal, and (E)
medicinal carbon.
obtained from Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
2.2. Characterization of Biomass Charcoal
Powder
The SEM micrograph was obtained using a scanning
electron microscope (JSM-7500F FE-SEM, JEOL Ltd.)
operating at 5 or 15 kV. The sample for SEM was pre-
pared on a carbon tape without vapor deposition.
All samples were outgassed at 300˚C for 8 h prior to
the nitrogen adsorption measurements. The specific sur-
face area of PBC was calculated with the use of the
Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method using a micro-
pore system (BELSORP-mini II, BEL JAPAN, INC.).
2.3. Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin onto Plant
Biomass Charcoal
As a typical procedure, 5 mL of 0.01 M phosphate buffer
solution at pH 7 containing 300 μM α-chymotrypsin and
3 g/L bagasse charcoal was placed in a 10-mL test tube
with a screw cup, and was incubated at 25˚C and 120
rpm for 24 h. After adsorption, the mixture was filtrated
with a membrane filter (pore size: 0.1 μm, Millipore Co.
Ltd.). The amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC
was calculated by subtracting the amount of α-chymo-
trypsin included in the supernatant liquid after adsorption
from the amount of α-chymotrypsin in the aqueous solu-
tion before adsorption. The amount of α-chymotrypsin
was measured at 280 nm by UV/vis spectrophotometer
(UV-1800, Shimadzu Co. Ltd.).
The aqueous solutions used in this study were acetate
buffer solutions at pH 4 and 5, phosphate buffer solutions
at pH 6 and 7, borate buffer solutions at pH 8, 9, and 10,
and disodium hydrogen phosphate buffer solutions at pH
11 and 12. The concentration of buffer solution was pre-
pared at 0.01 M. Each data point for the amount of α-
chymotrypsin adsorbed represents an average of three
measurements with a standard error less than 10%.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Characterization of Plant Biomass Charcoal
In order to confirm the morphology of PBC, we have
obtained SEM images presented in Figure 1 for bagasse
charcoal, adzuki bean charcoal, bamboo charcoal, and
wood charcoal. Additionally, SEM image of medicinal
carbon is shown as typical activated carbon in Figure 1.
As seen in the figure, the morphology of PBC surface is
strongly dependent upon the kind of materials. Bagasse
charcoal was produced under 600˚C by a charcoal kiln.
Adzuki bean charcoal, bamboo charcoal, and wood char
coal were prepared under 450˚C by pyrolysis without
combustion under a nitrogen atmosphere [9]. Conse-
quently, the preparation of PBC used in the present work
was not carried out by activation treatment. On the other
hand, as seen in Figure 1(E), the surface of medicinal
carbon was obviously much rougher than that of PBC,
and many pores were observed on the surface.
Table 1 shows the textural parameters of PBC ob-
tained from low-temperature (−196˚C) nitrogen adsorption

Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin on Plant Biomass Charcoal 271
Table 1. Structural characteristics of PBC.
Charcoals Specific surface area [m2/g] Pore volume [cm3/g] Pore diameter peak [nm]
Bagasse 459 0.047 less than 2.6
Adzuki bean 204a - -
Bamboo 294 0.041 less than 2.6
Wood 117 0.025 less than 2.6
Medicinal carbon 1158 0.32 less than 2.6
aSpecific area of adzuki bean charcoal was obtained from the CO2 isotherm.
isotherms, which allow the calculation of specific surface
area, specific pore volume, and pore diameter peak. In
the table, the specific area of adzuki bean charcoal de-
picted the value obtained from the CO2 isotherm in our
previous work [9], since it was too long to reach the ad-
sorption equilibrium, and the exact value could not be
obtained. The specific surface area of PBC was much
smaller than that of medicinal carbon, and the specific
pore volume of PBC was one order of magnitude lower
than that of medicinal carbon. The characteristics of
pores and surface chemistry of charcoal are influenced
by carbonizing temperature [13]. The specific pore vol-
ume tends to increase as the carbonizing temperature of
charcoal increase. It was presumed that the formation of
pores of PBC was not enhanced, since PBC was prepared
at low temperatures.
Figure 2 shows the pore size distribution of PBC ob-
tained by the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) method [14],
which is based on a model of the adsorbent as a collec-
tion of cylindrical pores. The theory accounts for capil-
lary condensation in the pores using the classical Kelvin
equation, which in turn assumes a hemispherical liquid-
vapor meniscus and a well-defined surface tension. The
pore size distribution of PBC was less than 10 nm, while
that of medicinal carbon was less than 100 nm. Thus, the
pore size of PBC was mainly in the micro-pore range,
whereas that of medicinal carbon was in the meso-pore
and macro-pore ranges.
3.2. Adsorption Isotherms
We used α-chymotrypsin as a model protein. The amount
of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on BCP increased with an
increase in the time of adsorption, and reached a plateau
around 24 h. Figure 3 shows the amount of α-chymo-
trypsin adsorbed on PBC. The amount of α-chymotrypsin
adsorbed varied with the kind of materials. As seen in
Figure 3, the sequence of the amount adsorbed went as
follows: medicinal carbon > bagasse charcoal > wood
charcoal > adzuki bean charcoal > bamboo charcoal,
while that of the specific surface area went as follows:
medicinal carbon > bagasse charcoal > bamboo charcoal
> adzuki bean charcoal > wood charcoal, as shown
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
110100 1000
B a g a sse charcoal
Bamboocharcoal
Woodcharcoal
Medicinalcharcoal
d
p
(nm)
d
V
p
/d
d
p
Figure 2. Pore size distribution of plant biomass charcoals.
0 102030405
Medicin alcarbon
Woodcharcoal
Bamboocharcoal
Adzukibeancharcoal
Bagassecharcoal
Amount adsorbed (µmol/g)
0
Figure. 3 Effect of the kind of materials on the amount of
α-chymotrypsin adsorbed; adsorption was carried out by
incubating buffer solution (pH 7) containing 300 μM α-
chymotrypsin and 3 g/L PBC or medicinal carbon at 120
rpm and 25˚C for 24 h.
in Table 1. Concerning PBC, the amount adsorbed did
not correspond to the specific surface area. As seen in
Figures 1 and 2, the morphology of PBC surface and the
pore size distribution of PBC markedly depended upon
the kind of raw materials. Consequently, it is assumed
that they affect the adsorption efficiency of PBC. The

Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin on Plant Biomass Charcoal 272
amount of α-chymotrypsin on bagasse charcoal was 0.6-
fold that on medicinal carbon, although the surface area
of medicinal carbon was about 2.5 times larger than that
of bagasse charcoal. The scale of α-chymotrypsin is 5.1 ×
4.0 × 4.0 nm [12]. Thus, it is considered that pores hav-
ing less than the size of proteins do not work effectively
against the adsorption of proteins. This indicates that ba-
gasse charcoal has reasonable adsorption efficiency for
α-chymotrypsin.
Figure 4 shows the adsorption isotherms of α-chy-
motrypsin on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse charcoal.
These isotherms exhibit a gradual increase. The amount
of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on bagasse charcoal is supe-
rior to that of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on adzuki bean
charcoal. The solid lines presented in the figure are the
best fit Freundlich isotherm characterization of the ex-
perimental data using Equation (1).
1/
F
n
WKC (1)
Here, W is the amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on
PBC, C is the α-chymotrypsin concentration, and KF and
n are experimental constants [15]. The correlation con-
stants (r2) of adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse charcoal
were both 0.990. With regard to other adsorption iso-
therm models, for example, when the data were fitted for
the adsorption isotherm model of Langmuir, the correla-
tion constants (r2) of adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse
charcoal were 0.853 and 0.815, respectively. The present
isotherm type was similar to that of the adsorption of
HEWL onto PBC, and α-chymotrypsin was more effec-
tively adsorbed on PBC, compared with HEWL [9]. The
isotherm of bagasse charcoal displayed upward curvature,
compared to that of adzuki bean charcoal. This indicates
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0100 200 300 400
Amountadsorbed（μmol/g）
Final solution concentration（μM）
Adzukibeancharcoal
Bagassecharcoal
Figure 4. Adsorption isotherms of α-chymotrypsin on ad-
zuki bean charcoal and bagasse charcoal; adsorption was
carried out by incubating buffer solution (pH 7) containing
a certain amount of α-chymotrypsin and 3 g/L PBC at 120
rpm and 25˚C for 24 h.
that the adsorption of α-chymotrypsin on bagasse char-
coal is more effective than that on adzuki bean charcoal.
3.3. Effect of pH Value on α-Chymotrypsin
Adsorption
Figure 5 shows the relationship between the pH value of
aqueous solutions and the amount of α-chymotrypsin
adsorbed on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse charcoal
at 25˚C. The amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on ba-
gasse charcoal sharply increased with an increase in the
pH value, reaching the optimum value around neutral pH,
and tended to decrease in the alkaline region. The pH
profile in the case of adzuki bean charcoal was similar to
that in the case of bagasse charcoal, although the optimal
value of adzuki bean charcoal is slightly shifted to acidic
pH, compared to that of bagasse charcoal. The pH profile
in the adsorption of α-chymotrypsin on PBC was similar
to that in the adsorption of HEWL on PBC [9]. The net
charge on the protein molecules is varied by adjusting the
pH of the solution, since the protein molecule is con-
structed by amino acid residues containing positive- and
negative-charged side chains. α-Chymotrypsin belongs to
basic proteins, and the isoelectric point (pI) of α-chymo-
trypsin is 9.1 [12]. The lower the pH of solution contai-
ning α-chymotrypsin becomes below the pI of α-chymo-
trypsin, the more positive the net charge of α-chymo-
trypsin becomes. The ζ potential of PBC drastically de-
creases with increasing the pH value, exhibiting a nega-
tive value above pH 4, drops till pH 7, and is almost con-
stant in the alkaline region [9]. When the pH value was
around the pI of α-chymotrypsin or the pH where the ζ
0
5
10
15
20
25
02468
Amount adsorbed（μmol/g）
pH [-]
10
Adzuk ibeancharcoal
Bagassecharcoal
Figure 5. Effect of pH on the amount of α-chymotrypsin ad-
sorbed on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse charcoal; ad-
sorption was carried out by incubating buffer solution (ap-
propriate pH) containing 300 μM α-chymotrypsin and 3 g/L
PBC at 120 rpm and 25˚C for 24 h.

Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin on Plant Biomass Charcoal 273
potential of PBC approached 0 volts, a dramatic decrease
in the amount adsorbed was observed. The electrostatic
interaction between the positive charge of α-chymotryp-
sin and the negative charge on PBC tends to decrease in
the region of acidic or alkaline pH. Therefore, in the vi-
cinity of neutral pH where the Coulomb force between
PBC and α-chymotrypsin is high, a high amount of ad-
sorption tends to be obtained. Consequently, the adsorp-
tion profiles seem to be related mainly with the electro-
static interaction.
3.4. Effect of Ionic Strength on α-Chymotrypsin
Adsorption
Figure 6 shows the relationship between the KCl con-
centration of the solution and the amount of α-chy-
motrypsin adsorbed on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse
charcoal. The amount of α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on
PBC decreased with an increase in KCl concentration.
The solutions of α-chymotrypsin at the KCl concentra-
tion employed at the present work were transparent, and
no precipitate was observed. At first, it is considered that
an increase in the ionic strength results in a decrease in
the electrostatic interaction due to the electrostatic screen-
ing effect. Many radical species due to functional groups
containing oxygen atoms, which are formed by thermal
decomposition of cellulose and hemicelluloses, are de-
tected in charcoals carbonized at 500˚C by the measure-
ment of electron spin resonance, and functional groups
decrease with increasing carbonization temperature [13,
16]. We have reported that the elemental ratio of oxygen
on the surface of PBC was more than 15%, and C-O,
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
00.001 0.010.1
Amount adsorbed (μmol/g)
KCl concentration（M）
Adzuk i bean charcoal
Bagassecharcoal
Figure 6. Effect of KCl concentration on the amount of α-
chymotrypsin adsorbed on adzuki bean charcoal and ba-
gasse charcoal; adsorption was carried out by incubating
buffer solution (pH 7) containing 300 μM α-chymotrypsin, 3
g/L PBC, and a certain amount of KCl at 120 rpm and 25˚C
for 24 h.
O-C-O, C=O, and COOH were detected by X-ray photo-
electron spectroscopy [9]. Consequently, it is suggested
that electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bondings via
functional groups on the surface of PBC largely contrib-
ute to the adsorption of α-chymotrypsin, since α-chy-
motrypsin has many ionic and hydroxyl amino acid resi-
dues, as seen in Figure 7. Thus, the addition of inorganic
salts appears to weaken those interactions between PBC
and α-chymotrypsin.
3.5. Effect of Temperature on α-Chymotrypsin
Adsorption
Figure 8 shows the plots of the amount of α-chymotryp-
sin adsorbed on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse char-
coal against the adsorption temperature. The amount of
α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on PBC was dramatically in-
fluenced by the temperature. The maximum amounts of
α-chymotrypsin adsorbed on adzuki bean charcoal and
bagasse charcoal were both observed around 25˚C. This
tendency was similar to the case of the adsorption of
HEWL onto PBC [9]. The temperature profile on the
amount of proteins adsorbed on the water-insoluble ma-
trix tends to exhibit an optimum temperature, since the
conformation of proteins is generally sensitive to tem-
perature [17]. The state on the surface of protein molecules
Plant Biomass CharcoalPlant Biomass Charcoal
Func tional Group
Protein
Figure 7. Schematic representation of adsorption of pro-
teins onto the surface of PBC.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 102030405
Amount adsorbed (μmol/g)
Temperature（℃）
0
Adzukibeancharcoal
Bagassecharcoal
Figure 8. Effect of temperature on the amount of α-chy-
motrypsin adsorbed on adzuki bean charcoal and bagasse
charcoal; adsorption was carried out by incubating buffer
solution (pH 7) containing 300 μM α-chymotrypsin and 3
g/L PBC at 120 rpm and an appropriate temperature for 24
h.

Adsorption of α-Chymotrypsin on Plant Biomass Charcoal 274
such as the charge, hydrophilicity, and hydrophobicity
due to their conformation affects the interaction of pro-
teins with matrices. Moreover, the sufficient potential to
weaken the hydration layer around a protein molecule is
necessary to enhance the interactions between the amino
acid residues of proteins and functional groups on the
surface of PBC. Therefore, since the entropy effect of
protein and the enthalpy effect of adsorption phenome-
non are involved in the adsorption, the adsorption profile
tends to exhibit the maximum at an appropriate tempera-
ture.
4. Conclusion
PBC had the adsorption efficiency for proteins, similar to
medicinal carbon. The adsorption isotherms followed the
Freundlish equation. PBC exhibited the optimum pH on
the amount adsorbed due to the interaction between α-
chymotrypsin and PBC, such as the electrostatic force,
the hydrogen bonding. The adsorption temperature mar-
kedly affected the amount adsorbed.
5. Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific
Research (C) from Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science (No. 24561013).
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